Tramway-point.



E. VEEVERS & G. HI BUTTERWORTH.

.TRAMWAY POINT.

APPLICATION FILED APR.11,71908.

Patented Apr. 6, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

VE EEEEE 0., wAsl-nua'mn, D. c.

E. V-EEVERS & H. BUTTERWORTH.

TRAMWAY POINT.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1908.

Patented Apr 6, 1909 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Fl G'- M lb/ya UNETED STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

EDMUND VEEVERS AND GEORGE HERBERT BUTTERWORTH, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.

TRAMNAY-POINI.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDMUND Vnnvnns and GEORGE HERBERT BUTTERWORTH, both subjects of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing, respectively, at 122 Van hall road, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, England, and 134 Liverpool road, Great Crosby, Liverpool aforesaid, have invented a new and useful Improvement in 'lramway-Points, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the points of rails such as are used with tramcars and the like of the kind that are driven by means of an overhead wire and trolley and it has for its object means whereby the points of said rails may be set or actuated at the will of the driver or motorman from the car while it is running.

According to the invention the car carries a switch hereafter termed the point switch (or it may be one at each end of said car) and according to the position of the handle or handles or plugs of this switch so will points which the car is about to approach be opened or left in their normal (closed) position. This opening of a point is effected by a solenoid which by means hereafter described pulls open the tongue of the point when said solenoid is energized, the tongue being automatically locked by a catch in. its open position until again released by a second solenoid tripping the catch after the car has passed the point when it again resumes its normal (closed) position by reason of a spring. It will thus be seen that according to whether the various opening solenoids are energized or no so is the position of each of the points predetermined.

The frogs or points of the overhead wire have hitherto in the case of facing points been frequently manually actuated in one direction by a pull on a cordv and according to our invention this cord is affixed to the core of the point actuating solenoid or to some part moving therewith so that the point tongue and the frog tongue move syn chronously.

The solenoids and other mechanism for moving the points are preferably inclosed in road boxes the tops whereof lie about flush with the surface of the roadway and are re movable so that access may be had to their interiors. These may conveniently be placed between the rails but for clearness of understanding we have shown them as at one side Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 11, 1908.

Patented April 6, 1909.

Serial No. 426,524.

thereof. The first portion of this specification will more especially describe the various circuits and overhead gear while the latter portion will describe the road boX mechanism.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation in diagrammatical form of our overhead system and showing also the electrical connections. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the road box hereafter described. Fig. 4 is a detached section as on line a:x of Fig. 3 and drawn to a still larger scale for the sake of clearness. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a trolley head and one of the contact plates hereinafter described. Fig. 6 is a similar View to Fig. 5 but showing another of the contact plates. Fig. 7 is a view of a switch suitable for use on the car and which may be so arranged in advance as to complete a desired circuit when a contact plate is reached.

W e may in some cases use plugs and flexible connections, or have more than one handle on the switch so that two or more point circuits may be set in advance. These alternatives are well known.

Like designating characters refer to corresponding parts.

1, 1, are the rails and 2, 3, 4, represent respectively three branches thereof. A vehiole 5 traveling in the direction of the arrow Fig. 1 will normally and when all the points are closed follow along the main line 1, but should the tongue of any of the points (see 6 Fig. 3) be pulled over so as to open the point then the vehicle when it arrives there will take one of the branch lines 2, 3, or 4, as the case may be.

7 represents the overhead live wire which may be supported by posts 8 or by span wires as usual.

9, 10, 11, and 12, show a series of what we term contact plates which are hung upon (or it may be adjacent to) the live wire 7 and they are also supported by span wires 13. They are made of insulating material and reinforced by metal for the purpose of slinging them. Each of these contact plates carries a metal contact 14 except in the case of the contact plate 9 see Fig. 5, which differs from the others in that it carries a plurality of contacts 14. This particular contact plate 9 we term the emergency contact plate and its construction and functions will be explained hereafter.

From the contact 14 on the contact plate be made inert or live at will.

ducted in any known manner leads to a point actuating solenoid in the point boX 15 and from this box the point leading to the branch line 2 is controlled.

From the contact plate 11 a wire 17 leads to the point boX 18 from which the point leading to the branch 3 is controlled, and from the contact plate 12 a wire 1-9 leads to the point box 20 from which the point leading to the branch 4 is controlled.

We wish it to be understood that the con tact strips 14 on the contact plates 9, 10, 11, and 12, and consequently the wires 15, 17, and 19, and the solenoids in the road boxes 1 6, 18, and 20, are normally dead or unenergized, and the points at the junction of the main line 1 and the branch lines 2, 3, and 4 are therefore normally closed, by means of a point spring each which may be of any suitable construction and forms no part of our present invention.

Referring now to Fig. 7 which shows the switch carried on the car. 21 is a branch from any convenient live wire on the car. 22 is'a cut-out by means of which switch 23 may are contacts connected as by wire 25 (see also Figs. 5 and 6) to brushes or wipers 26. flhese brushes or wipers 26 sweep over the contact strips 14 above mentioned and, if live, close a circuit to energize one of the solenoids for actuating a point.

It will thus be seen that when the car reaches for instance the contact plate 10 that if the wiper 26 corresponding to the contact 14 thereon is live the solenoid in the box 1% will be energized and will pull over or open the point at the adjacent iunction 2 and. cause the car to branch off, whereas siould the wiper corresponding to said contact be dead (by reason of the switch 23 not having been placed so as to close its particular circuit) the point will be closed and the car will travel straight on.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, 27, 2'7, 27, represent additional contact plates by means of which the car having passed the opened point adjacent thereto and entered the branch line, releasesthe catch by means of similar connections to those already described which cause a current to energize a releasing solenoid in the road box adjacent to the point that has just been passed.

W e have shown three sets of points any one or both or all of which may be actuated in advance as above described. it e do not wish to be confined to this number as it will depend on local conditions.

At the right hand side of Figs. 1 and 2, and also the Fig. 5 it will be seen that the first contact plate 9 carries a plurality of contact strips 14 and these are individually coupled each to its respective solenoid in advance. This arrangement is intended for use in emergency and it will be seen that with a multiple switch any or all of the points may actuated in advance from this one place. This emergency contact plate 9 is also useful in such cases as where a car is pushing a disabled car in front of it and it is therefore necessary for the points to be actuated before the trolley of the rear car reaches the adjacei'it contact plates. in other words the series of points may be set in advance on passing the emergency contact plate 9. We provide also additional releasing contact plates 28, 28, 28, (Fig. 2) coupled up to the re pcctive points acent to (behind) them a. d these are only intended for use when a car is pulling a disabled car after it. These emergency releasing contact plates 28 are instead of the usual releasing contact used plates under such circumstances because being a greater distance past the point they do not come to operation to rc-close the latter un il the active car dragging the disabled car al or it has pulled the latter well clear of the point. in such case immediately the active car has opened the point its switch is opened by the motorman so that on its arriw l at the ordinary closin contact plate 27 it will not close the point that has just been passed but will let it remain open long enou h for the trailing vehicle to enter the branch, and lb is only when the emergency plate 28 is reached by the active car that the is again closed, the switch having been closed to effect that pur- 5 we show four contact udin the system we describe only i-cse are used. i i'hcn however a our bl point has to be negotiated the fourth trip 14 will be used to actuate it. Others *1 be added if desired. v provide also an auxiliary electrical operating and releasing switch 29 see Fig. 1, which is preferably mounted in a box afiiXed to one of the standards or it may be in a cabin for instance. This switch may as in the former exai iple be cut out by an auxiliary cut-out 30. 31 is a branch wire leading from the overhead wire '7 through a suitable resistance 32 and the various poles on the switchboard are connected by wires 33, 34, and with the'solenoid wires 15, 17, 19 respectively and the poles 36, 37 and 38, are com cted to the respective releasing contact plates 27 each by a branch wire as shown. it will thus be seen that any one of the points maybe set r released at will from this station, which is intended to be used as an additional means of actuation in emergency.

deferring now more particularly to Figs. 3 and 39 shows the sides of the road boX which is normally closed by a suitable cover. 40 is the coil of the solenoid for actuating the tongue 6 of the point in one direction by means of its core 41 pulling on an arm 42 of an elbow lever 42 and 43. The return of the point to closed position is effected by a spring 44. is the pivot for elbow lever 42, 43.

box. The arm 42 is coupled by a link 51, to one end of rocking lever 46 and the other end of the latter is, by means of a link 68 coupled to one end of lever 47. The other end of this rocking lever 47 is coupled to the tongue 6 as by a link 52. It will thus be seen that a pull on the core 41 opens the tongue 6.

In the bridge piece 50 is a slot 53 (see Fig. 4) in which the other arm 43 of the elbow lever aforesaid swings and 54 is a detent to retain it in open position against the influence of spring 44. The tail 55 of the detent is raised to release said arm 43 by reason of an inclined lump 56 on a rod 57 which is pulled inward by the releasing solenoid 58 above described, whose core 59 is coupled thereto by means of an anchor link 60 also pivoted on pivot 45.

61 is a spiral spring that normally pulls the core 59 partly out from its coils 58.

62 is a subsidiary road box into which a rod 63 attached to tongue 6 protrudes and is attached to a swinging lever 64. 65 is an auxiliary spring helping to close said tongue 6. The object of this subsidiary road boX and its adjacent mechanism is to allow the point tongue 6 to be manually operated by means of a lever or crowbar when it is desired to open the points without the use of the electric devices in case of breakdowns for instance. A second subsidiary road box 66 is also provided into which the end of the rod 57 projects and this also may be shot back mechanically so as to allow the point to close. These two road boxes are usually covered by lids (not shown).

l ve provide two rocking levers 46 47, which are pivoted in jaws or brackets 48, i 49, to a bridge piece 50 which spans the road 67 (Fig. 3) shows a portion of the cord or cable by means of which the points on the overhead frogs are pulled as above described.

N e claim.

1. In tramway points the combination of a point actuating contact plate adjacent to each point whereby said point may be opened on the arrival of the trolley head at said contact plate, a point releasing plate whereby the point may be closed when the trolley head reaches it after the points have been passed by the vehicle, and a second point releasing contact plate at a farther distance past the point adapted for use in emergency, substantially as described.

2. In tramway points the combination of an elbow lever movable synchronously with the point tongue a solenoid adapted to pull said lever in one direction, a spring adapted to pull it in the other direction, a catch adapted to drop in the path of said elbow lever to retain it in one position against the influence oi said spring, with a second solenoid having a rod with an inclined lump on it attached to its core whereby when said inclined lump is pulled under the tail of the catch the latter is tripped, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In tramway points a road box containing point actuating and releasing mechanism and which has two protruding rods connected to the same, the combination there with of two auxiliary road boxes which contain the free ends of said rods whereby the point tongue may be mechanically operated, substantially as described.

EDMUND VEEVERS. GEORGE HERBERT BUTTERWORTH. lVitnesses RUTH BOYD, CHAS. COVENTRY. 

